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Ceremonies mark anniversary of California mass shooting

By Associated Press

2019/11/08 15:08

This October 2019 photo shows a plaque on one of several boulders at The Healing Garden, a public park memorial to commemorate the 12 people killed in... This October 2019 photo shows a plaque on one of several boulders at The Healing Garden, a public park memorial to commemorate the 12 people killed in a mass shooting and gun battle at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif., a Southern California country-western bar a year earlier. The garden was dedicated Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, the anniversary of the shooting. (Andrew Mooney via AP)

This October 2019 photo provided by Andrew Mooney shows The Healing Garden, a public park memorial to commemorate the 12 people killed in a mass shoot... This October 2019 photo provided by Andrew Mooney shows The Healing Garden, a public park memorial to commemorate the 12 people killed in a mass shooting and gun battle at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif., a Southern California country-western bar a year earlier. The garden was dedicated Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, the anniversary of the shooting. (Andrew Mooney via AP)

This October 2019 photo provided by Andrew Mooney shows The Healing Garden, a public park memorial to commemorate the 12 people killed in a mass shoot... This October 2019 photo provided by Andrew Mooney shows The Healing Garden, a public park memorial to commemorate the 12 people killed in a mass shooting and gun battle at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif., a Southern California country-western bar a year earlier. The garden was dedicated Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, the anniversary of the shooting. (Andrew Mooney via AP)

FILE - In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, file photo, people comfort each other as they stand near the scene in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where a gunman ope... FILE - In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, file photo, people comfort each other as they stand near the scene in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where a gunman opened fire Wednesday, Nov. 7, inside a country dance bar crowded with hundreds of people on "college night," wounding multiple people including a deputy who rushed to the scene. The 12 people killed in a mass shooting and gun battle at the Southern California country-western bar a year ago have been remembered in a public park memorial called The Healing Garden. The garden was to be dedicated Thursday, Nov, 7. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday evening, Nov. 7, 2018 file image taken from video a victim is treated near the scene of a shooting, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. ... FILE - In this Wednesday evening, Nov. 7, 2018 file image taken from video a victim is treated near the scene of a shooting, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. A hooded gunman dressed entirely in black opened fire on a crowd at a country dance bar holding a weekly "college night" in Southern California, killing multiple people and sending hundreds fleeing. The 12 people killed in a mass shooting and gun battle at the Southern California country-western bar a year ago have been remembered in a public park memorial called The Healing Garden. The garden was to be dedicated Thursday, Nov, 7. (RMG News via AP, File)

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — The 12 people killed in a mass shooting and gunbattle at a Southern California country-western bar a year ago have been remembered in a public park memorial called The Healing Garden.

The garden was dedicated Thursday, the anniversary of the Borderline Bar & Grill shooting in Thousand Oaks, with a private ceremony for relatives of the dead, then an event for 248 survivors before the public opening at midafternoon.

Late on Nov. 7, 2018, a gunman entered the popular bar and killed 11 people.

Ventura County sheriff's Sgt. Ron Helus was wounded by the gunman and then accidentally killed by a California Highway Patrol officer during the ensuing gunbattle.

The gunman, 28-year-old Ian David Long, killed himself.

The violence was part of a season of tragedy in California: The next morning a raging wildfire killed 85 people as it ravaged the northern town of Paradise and two other fires erupted near Thousand Oaks, one of which destroyed more than 1,600 structures and killed three people as it roared through Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

"One year ago, and every day since, this community has shown the world that it will not be defined by the violence inflicted upon it," Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub told the crowd Thursday. "It is this community's indomitable spirit, not an act of violence, that defines it."

The garden, located in Conejo Creek North Park, surrounds a pond that has a fountain with 12 vertical water jets to honor those killed.

There are also 12 granite slab benches, and a paving stone for each survivor. Oaks screen the garden from the rest of the park.

The Borderline, a longtime institution in the city, has remained closed.

"Not a day goes by that we do not think about our friends and family who we have lost," said a note posted on its website Thursday. "This past year has been extremely difficult for all of us as a community, but together we have helped each other move forward and continue our healing process one day at a time."

On Wednesday, a stretch of the U.S. 101 freeway running through Thousand Oaks was dedicated as the "Ventura County Sheriff's Sergeant Ronald Lee Helus Memorial Highway."